ProofHub

Pros

Clear interface.
Good balance of features and simplicity.
Attractive Nano tier of service for very small teams.

Cons

Some features not smooth in operation.
No mobile apps.
Does not integrate with Zapier.

Bottom Line

Project management service ProofHub aims for simplicity in a well-organized interface, but it skimps a little on features at the least expensive tiers.
It's a capable online solution for managing projects, but others offer more.

May 27, 2015

ProofHub is a project management service that helps organize teamwork and get projects done. With an orderly interface and emphasis on simplicity, ProofHub definitely delivers all the basics you'd need to manage a project. Whether it has all the features you want, however, or the speed and smoothness of a cutting-edge Web app, is another story. ProofHub is a good project management platform, with many levels of service. And it is at its best at the $99 per month Premium tier. But other project management platforms offer more. Teamwork Projects and Zoho Projects trump ProofHub in features and quality, making them our Editors' Choices.

Price and Plans

At the free level, ProofHub offers a very limited plan: support for one project, 25MB file storage space, and one-to-one chat. The free plan does not include time-tracking features, Gantt charts, notes, or reports, though.

There are better places to get free accounts. Teamwork Projects, for instance, lets you keep a free account with two projects. Basecamp no longer advertises a free account, but verified teachers can get one, as well as anyone with a Basecamp Classic account.

You can't do a whole lot with support for only one project, of course. The first paid tier of service with ProofHub is called Nano ($15 per month). It supports 10 projects and offers 3GB of storage. There are no limits on the number of users, either. That's a good deal for very small teams, as long as they don't mind missing out on a few features, such as chat and being able to set up a custom domain, Gantt charts, and time sheets. The price still beats Basecamp's $20 per month account, which also lets you manage 10 active projects and includes 3GB of storage space.

ProofHub's next tier, called Standard ($49 per month), supports 40 projects and offers 15GB storage, but still lacks an integrated chat app, support for a custom domain, and a few other features.

This Standard plan is similar to Teamwork Projects's $49 per month plan, which comes with support for up to 40 projects and 20GB of space, a slightly better deal, space-wise. A similar offer from Zoho Projects costs less (only $40 per month) for 50 projects and offers just as much space as ProofHub allots (15GB).

Much better is ProofHub Premium, which lets you manage 100 projects with 40GB of space for $99 per month. You'll get chat, as well as the ability to assign other users custom roles, the ability to create a custom domain, and more.

I do like that ProofHub's prices are for an unlimited number of users. Some other project management solutions, such as Easy Projects and Comindware Project charge per user per month, and after only three or so users, the cost starts to get out of control compared with those services that charge just a flat monthly rate.

Features and Interface

ProofHub's interface looks somewhat similar in design to Teamwork Projects's. Visual cues are abundant. Heavy, solid colors give the space a creative but organized look. You can color-code both projects and tags for tasks. New activity from the current day gets a timestamp in a list of recent activities (e.g., 39 minutes ago), and that timestamp is highlighted.

Despite the organized interface and sense of order that the coloration provides, ProofHub doesn't run as smoothly as some other project management platforms. Zoho Projects comes to mind. With ProofHub, there are times when I thought I could click on a button or a link, key in some information, hit enter, and keep working. But more often than not, I found myself having to click a text box first, before I could type, or having to hit a save button rather than just hitting enter. These are small complaints, but this style of user interaction slowed me down. The lack of fluidity wasn't nearly as painful as it is in Easy Projects, which slows to a crawl to open entire new pages when a simple pop-up window or interactive element on the page would have been better, but it was enough to be noticeable.

As mentioned, ProofHub holds back some features when you pay less than $99 per month, and they are features that project managers and collaborative teams will want. The group chat app, for example, is a lovely addition that facilitates communication. But you don't get it at the Standard level.

The features that are included in ProofHub Premium are helpful, if standard: tasks, dependent tasks, milestones, a calendar, Gantt charts, timesheets, and so forth. ProofHub is working on a full time-tracking tool, but it wasn't available when I reviewed the service. At present, timesheet hours are all entered manually.

ProofHub has one special feature called Quickies. At the top right corner of the interface is a Q+ icon for your Quickies. Quickies are like sticky note to-dos, little reminders to yourself that other people don't necessarily need to see. I like that you can jot down an important task, such as returning a phone call or remembering to upload assets when you're done with them, in an ever-present space.

Apps and Integrations

ProofHub offers some integrations with third-party tools, but not a ton. You can connect your account to Google Drive and Dropbox, but not Box, which is an extremely common storage provider for businesses.

It's also not supported as of this writing by Zapier, a kind of IFTTT for business tools. In a nutshell, if you have a tool that works with Zapier, you can connect it to other tools, even if they are not natively designed to interact with one another. Teamwork Projects works with Zapier, and Zoho Projects integrates with a long list of other services all on its own.

If your team is fairly mobile, ProofHub might not be an ideal solution because it doesn't have an iOS app yet (one is in the works, according to the company), though a ProofHub Android app recently became available.

Simple and Straightforward, but Not Cutting-Edge

ProofHub is a reliable project management platform, but it's not exactly cutting-edge. While it doesn't feel as slow to use as Easy Projects, it still could use some oomph in its user interface. I like that the lower levels of service appeal to very small teams on a budget, but I hate that important features, such as group chat, aren't included at those levels. ProofHub may meet your needs, but I would recommend exploring our project management Editors' Choices, Zoho Projects and Teamwork Projects, before committing to ProofHub. Both offer a better deal, have support integration with more apps and services, and are just a little zippier.

Before joining PCMag.com, she was senior editor at the Association for Computing Machinery, a non-profit membership organization for computer scientists and students. She also spent five years as a writer and managing editor of Game Developer magazine, ... See Full Bio